Trivia
- The game which had been scheduled for the previous Saturday was the League Cup game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. This had to be postponed at a very late hour when gale force winds tore off some of the roof cladding and structural uniformity of the east stand roof making it unsafe for the public.
- This Friendly game against Bayern Munich match was also used to unveil the newly named Lisbon Lions Stand. The name was selected by fans choice from a poll in the Celtic View and the fanzine Bhoyzone. The name was selected as the most popular (though it was highly suspected that the fix was in) with 'The Fergus McCann Stand' being the second most popular name with 21% of the vote. This also represented a chance for the club to publicly honour the Lions.
- On Sunday 30th January the story broke how Allan MacDoanald had commissioned a report from London-based behavioural psychologist Chris Lewis into Hugh Dallas’ handling of the Celtic Rangers game at the end of the previous season. What appeared to be an innocent admission by MacDonald proceeded to go nuclear when the press made hay with the story and Dallas sought talks with the SFA over whether to take legal action against Celtic over the report. The SFA General Purposes Committee met and decided to bring Allan MacDonald before them to answer charges of bringing the game into disrepute.
- Morten Wieghorst damaged his knee in a training ground incident. What was at first thought to be ligament damage turned out to be a cartilage injury and he underwent surgey immediately.
Review
The game was a chance for the club to see triallist de Ornelas in action – and he did pretty well – well enough to win a short term deal.
The Lisbon Lions turned out in force for the public choice and naming of the East Stand. Not a vast crowd, and essentially a meaningless game – but at least the wind and weather had abated enough to actually repair the roof of the East Stand so that the game could go ahead.
Teams
Celtic :
Kerr (
Kharine, 46),
McNamara (
Mjallby, 46),
Stubbs (
Lambert, 60),
Boyd,
Mahe,
Petrov,
Healy,
de Ornelas,
Petta (
Blinker, 71),
Burchill,
Viduka (
Johnson, 79).
Non Used Subs:Subs: Wright, Berkovic.
Goal:Goal: Burchill (66)
Bayern Munich -
Kahn, Babbel, Elber (Jancker, 46), Matthaus (Scholl, 46), Paolo Sergio (Santa Cruz, 46), Jeremies, Fink (Weisinger ,74), Tarnat, Salihamidzic, Zickler, Linke.
Substitutes:Substitutes: Dreher, Andersson
Goals:Goals: Elber (13), Fink (44),
Referee:Referee: Stuart Dougal
Attendance:Attendance: 20,261
Articles
Pictures
Bayern emerge unscathed as Lions return to their den;
Burchill on target for Barnes' makeshift side but the heroes of '67 steal the show
The Herald 02/02/2000 Celtic ..................... 1
Bayern Munich ....... 2
MAYBE
it never got close to the standard set by the European Cup heroes of
1967 who were paraded, to the crowd's great delight, as they opened the
stand named after them but, as a friendly of its type, this was a
worthwhile contest.
Neither team was going for broke but they went
through enough gears to make it interesting and Bayern, coming back from
their winter solstice, did appeal as a team with much more to give.
Celtic
had key players missing but they would be happy with the return of Alan
Stubbs and Paul Lambert, while the man on trial, Fernando de Ornelas,
did well before tiring.
Mark Burchill scored a fine goal midway
through the second half as he took the chance to stake his claim for a
starting place in the team, while Regi Blinker, a second-half
substitute, also did well.
Bayern had gone ahead through Brazilian
Giovane de Souza Elber early on and went two up just before half-time
through Thorsten Fink.
Celtic did better after the break but,
against, that the Germans did miss a penalty. Overall, the 20,261 on
site went home reasonably satisfied with their night out.
Head coach
John Barnes was certainly in that mode. "It was a good work-out for
both teams and I was pleased with the players who came in."
He named
Bobby Petta in particular and expressed satisfaction with the
Venezuelan, de Ornelas. ''We'll make a decision about Fernando in the
next few days, but I was very pleased with him. He is pacy and got
plenty of crosses in. He took a knock on a foot just before half time
and that was why he didn't do as well after the break."
The manager
also confirmed that he will be having a close look at Australian
internationalist Josip Skoko, who will have talks with Celtic today
after being recommended by his friend and compatriot, Mark Viduka.
Skoko,
who is captain of Hajduk Split, comes with a good reputation but Barnes
stressed that he will only make a decision after seeing him this week.
The
new stand was in good repair after the hiccup of the weekend and so,
too, were the men it was named after, the Lisbon Lions, who were trotted
out in their entirety, along with some star extras, including such as
Joe McBride and John Hughes.
Billy McNeill, as so often in the past,
had to make the captain's speech, this time from the centre circle,
where he thanked the fans for their unflinching support, although many
of them listening were not even close to a gleam in daddy's eye at the
time.
The inevitable huddle cheered the depleted attendance, but the
thought occurred that the 1967 lot had managed a great deal without it.
Still, the football flowed from both sides, considering it was
something of an exercise run, was entertaining enough. More important
for the young man from Venezuela was the encouragement he received every
time he touched the ball.
That would have happened any way, but as the new lad almost scored in eight minutes, he was guaranteed a following.
He
tamed the ball 25 yards out with his right foot, turned it on to his
left, and hit a fine effort that international keeper Oliver Kahn did
well to dive and touch past a post.
A goal then would have been very
welcome for the home side, especially as they lost one seven minutes
later. The Munich team, full of athleticism and pace, ironi-cally didn't
need either to get the goal. A corner from the far side was headed in
by Elber despite some despairing attempts to clear it off the line.
The
happy German group away to our right were in good voice and were warmly
applauded when they chanted something about standing up if you hate
Rangers, a request that met with willing acquiescence.
Viduka had
one or two fine runs but was crowded out on each occasion and then
Ornelas demonstrated his acceleration when he raced back to end a Bayern
attack. A minute before half-time, however, Bayern struck again. Elber
was involved again, with a cross that Paolo Sergio laid into the path of
Fink, who hit a stirring shot past Stewart Kerr.
Both sides made
changes for the second half, with Celtic calling on Johan Mjallby and
goalkeeper Dmitri Kharine, replacing McNamara and Kerr. The Germans, in
turn, took off old-timer Lothar Matthaus bringing on Mehmet Scholl,
while the two Brazilians, Elber and Paolo Sergio, were substituted by
Jancker and Santa Cruz. Stilian Petrov fed forward a fine pass which
Burchill reached by dint of his pace and then sent over a perfect cross
which, unfortunately, did not find a team-mate within striking distance.
In 57 minutes, Lambert made his first appearance of the restarted
season, now fully recovered from the leg knock he sustained in the
friendly with Fortuna Dusseldorf in Portugal. He took over from another
returning key player, Stubbs, who had done well after his lengthy
absence. Lambert made an immediate impact when he sent through a fine
pass which Burchill hit with his right foot past Kahn and into the net.
In
71 minutes, Celtic took off Petta and brought on Blinker to great
cheers. The substitutions continued when Fink was replaced by Wiesinger
and then it was Viduka's turn to go off, with Tommy Johnson coming on.
Celtic had a lucky escape when Salihamidzic sent a penalty kick wide
after Mjallby had brought down Scholl
John Barnes post match:
“It was a good work-out for both teams and I was pleased with the players who came in.
''We'll
make a decision about Fernando in the next few days, but I was very
pleased with him. He is pacy and got plenty of crosses in. He took a
knock on a foot just before half time and that was why he didn't do as
well after the break."
Pictures Match Pictures